Orange County murder suspect shot teen but not 14-year-old girl, attorney says

A double-murder suspect shot an Alamance County teenager in self-defense after watching the teenager shoot a 14-year-old girl and turn the gun on him, the defendant’s lawyer said Wednesday in Orange County Superior Court.

Issiah Ross, 21, is accused of fatally shooting 18-year-old Devin Clark and 14-year-old Lyric Woods in a rural field off Buckhorn Road near Efland on Sept. 17, 2022.

Woods lived near the scene of the shooting and was a student at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough. Clark lived in Alamance County and attended Eastern Alamance High School, where Ross, who was then 17, had enrolled earlier that school year.

Ross’ attorney, Jonathan Trapp, in his opening statement to the jury Wednesday, agreed with an Orange County prosecutor’s account of how the teens got together early on the morning of Sept. 17, but that’s where the stories diverge, he said.

Ross “like a teenager, decided to take his mom’s car without permission” that night, Trapp said. Text messages show Clark texted Ross for a ride and said, “I got buns,” Trapp said.

Clark told Ross where to pick up Woods that night and where they could park, because Ross, who had recently moved from Delaware, did not know the area, Trapp said. Clark pulled the gun on Woods during an argument and shot her, he said.

He turned the gun on Ross, who “was left with a tough decision to save his own life,” Trapp said.

“After this happened in this area on Buckhorn Road, Mr. Ross — scared and in a very anxious position — leaves the scene,” Trapp said.

“As he’s leaving, he realizes the car he took from his mother has no gas (and when he stops at the gas station) he sees that he has Devin’s phone, Devin’s bag and this firearm that Devin just tried to kill him with, and he throws it out of the car,” Trapp said. “It’s still probably out on Buckhorn Road somewhere. It has never been found.”

A relative of Clark, who began to sob loudly after hearing Orange County Assistant District Attorney Anna Orr describe the victims’ injuries and Trapp’s comments, was escorted from the courtroom.

Orr is expected to offer evidence and expert witnesses, including forensic scientists, a forensic geologist and an FBI special agent, who could show that Ross shot both Clark and Woods that night with Clark’s gun before fleeing to Delaware.

A data expert is expected to testify about how cell phone towers were used to track Ross leaving the scene of the shootings, driving to a nearby gas station and returning to the scene.

Murder conviction could bring life sentences

Ross rejected a plea bargain on Monday that would have given him 40 to 50 years in prison if he pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder.

He could receive two life sentences in prison if convicted of first-degree murder in both deaths.

Suspects under 18 years old when they commit a murder are not eligible for the death penalty in North Carolina.

At least 12 spent shell casings were recovered from the scene, and Clark and Woods were shot multiple times, Orr said Wednesday. She did not offer a motive for the shooting, but said a witness will testify that Ross admitted to the murders.

Experts will also testify that Woods’ blood was found outside the SUV, she said, and that all 12 shots came from the same gun.

Residents near the crime scene told investigators they heard multiple gunshots shortly after 2 a.m. Sept. 17, Orr said previously. The gunshots were heard in groups, Trapp said, because there was a pause before Clark turned the gun on Ross.

How evidence was collected

Sheriff’s Investigator Zack Baldwin, who remained on the stand until court ended Wednesday, walked the jury through the process of collecting and handling the evidence recovered from the crime scene and from the GMC Terrain that Ross drove that night.

Investigators didn’t test either victim for gunshot residue, which can show if someone has fired a gun, Baldwin said, because the bodies were exposed to the weather for too long and were decomposing. Several rocks that appeared to have red stains were collected at the crime scene and samples were also collected from red streaks on the GMC Terrain and its interior console, he said.

Luminol, which illuminates blood that can’t be seen, showed “a very large spot” near the car’s dome light that “glowed very bright blue,” indicating the presence of blood, he said.

“It very clearly looked like a hand with drag-mark fingers,” Baldwin said.

Trapp noted in later comments to the judge that testimony could show the blood inside the car did not match either victim.

Parents testify about finding teens missing, dead

The jury of nine men and three women also heard Wednesday morning from the two men who found the bodies, another Orange County Sheriff’s deputy, and Woods’ and Clark’s parents.

Woods’ mother, Elizabeth Cannada, told the jury that she last saw her daughter on Friday, Sept. 16, after they returned home from getting ice cream. Woods told her and her stepfather that she loved them and was going to take a shower, Cannada said.

The next day, Woods’ sister went to wake her up so they could decorate the house for fall and didn’t find her. Cannada checked the bedroom and with her husband, her parents, and Woods’ father, but no one could find her, she said.

It was unusual for her daughter to worry her or to sneak out of the house, Cannada said, so family and friends began searching. She stayed up Saturday night in case Woods snuck back in, she said. Woods never mentioned Clark to her, she said.

A friend later helped her find a screenshot of her daughter’s location from 1:47 a.m. Saturday on the Snapchat social media app, she said. The message was sent to “DeuceX2,” she said.

Former Orange County Chief Deputy Jamie Sykes broke the news to her that her daughter was one of the two people found dead, Cannada said. He hugged her, and she collapsed, she said.

“The rest is just kind of a blur,” she said.

Clark’s father, Dexter Clark Jr., said he reported his son missing that Sunday morning after not hearing from him for a few days. He also testified about contacting police earlier that month to report his 9 mm firearm was missing.

Clark would use the gun when they went shooting on the weekends at a local gun club, he said. The last time he saw the gun, which was kept in a box in a locked closet, was a week or two before the shooting, he said.

It was not unusual for Clark to stay with friends for a few days, but Clark’s father started to worry when his calls kept going to voicemail, Orr said in her opening statement.

Hunters find Lyric, Devin and call 911

Two men riding four-wheelers found the bodies Sunday afternoon, Sept. 18, in the grassy field. Joseph Kiser and Jordan Wilson testified Wednesday that they had gone out to check on trail cams posted along the power easement off Buckhorn Road and to put out more deer corn.

They found the teens lying together, they said, and Kiser, who approached the bodies, said Clark’s pants were pulled down as if he had been dragged. They went to his father’s house nearby to call 911, because they were concerned about being in danger, Wilson said.

They then returned to the side of Buckhorn Road to wait for deputies to arrive, they said.

Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Phil Susann said he was already looking for Woods when the 911 call came in. He was on patrol Saturday when her stepfather called 911 to report a missing person, he testified Wednesday. The family told him Woods had never run away before, he said, and her stepfather found the back door to the house unlocked that morning.

Deputies sent up a drone to see if she was in the woods near the house and had a K-9 officer conduct a search, but they didn’t find anything, Susann said.

He rushed to the site after the bodies were found and noted signs that they had been there “for a little bit of time,” he testified. There were also brass casings scattered along the access road.

Law enforcement searched more than two weeks before finding Ross in Delaware on Oct. 2, 2022. Trapp told the jury that Ross’ mother was angry and sent him back to Delaware after finding her car damaged the day after the shooting.

Ross was charged as an adult in November 2022, following his 18th birthday. He has since been held without bail in the Orange County jail. In March, he pleaded not guilty.

The trial will begin again Thursday morning and is expected to last at least two weeks.

This story was originally published January 14, 2026 at 2:17 PM.

Tammy Grubb

The News & Observer

919-829-8926

Tammy Grubb has written about Orange County’s politics, people and government since 2010. She is a UNC-Chapel Hill alumna and has lived and worked in the Triangle for over 30 years.